


Lonely Days and Long Nights

by listerinezero



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Friendship, Gen, M/M, Mansion Fic, Mpreg, Post-Canon, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 10:31:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5372051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/listerinezero/pseuds/listerinezero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik is very cranky about spending his pregnancy at the X-Mansion, but perhaps it's not as bad as he thinks it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lonely Days and Long Nights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [annejumps](https://archiveofourown.org/users/annejumps/gifts).



> Grumpy pregnant Erik in the winter. Hope you enjoy!

Erik pulled on a hat and gloves and tied a thick woolen scarf around his neck. He found some boots that fit, and to his horror he could barely get them on. In a few short weeks he would need help tying his shoelaces, but fortunately, he wasn’t quite that pregnant yet.

The coat presented a more immediate problem, namely that it wouldn’t close over his belly. For a brief, furious moment he tore it off and threw it against the wall. Then he took a breath, counted to ten, and decided that it was mild enough outside that he could take a walk with his coat open. It was only the first snowfall of the year, barely more than a flurry, and he decided he’d rather go out with his coat open than go back to the library.

Satisfied with his winter gear, Erik stepped defiantly out of the mansion’s coatroom and headed for the front door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” a voice called from behind. It was Moira, arms crossed over her chest, frowning at him.

Erik scowled and continued toward the door. “Am I not allowed to go for a walk?” He didn’t wait for an answer.

It was the first snowfall of the season in Westchester. Actually, it was the first snowfall Erik had seen in many, many seasons. Weather meant nothing in prison – he didn’t even have a window – and before his arrest, he tried to stay in warmer climates. Winter reminded him of his childhood, and he preferred not to be reminded.

Now he was stuck in New York for the time being, where a cold and snowy winter was a foregone conclusion. As if things for Erik weren’t miserable enough, what with being pregnant and inconveniently male, not to mention a wanted fugitive, living in a house with six people who despised him, now he had endless months of dark, snow, and cold to look forward to. Then labor. It was enough to make him scream.

Over the past week he began to force himself to take a daily walk around the grounds. He needed the fresh air and the exercise and, most of all, he had to get out of the library once in a while. Since he arrived a few weeks earlier, Erik kept to the library during the day and Charles’ bedroom, which he shared, at night. The others were outright hostile to him on the few times he dared to wander. He didn’t expect Alex or Hank or any of the others to welcome him with open arms after the stunts he pulled in Paris and Washington back in the summer, but he didn’t expect their contempt to hurt so much. Erik blamed the pregnancy hormones for his hurt feelings, and kept to the library to avoid them.

The snowfall was barely a flurry, and it hardly stuck to the ground at all. Even so, Erik could feel the change in the air. When he took a deep breath, he remembered playing in the snow with his father when he was a very little boy. Soon enough there will be a little one asking him to play in the snow. Erik looked over the grounds at the enormous Xavier family home and wondered if he and that child would still be there in a year or two. He wondered if they would be welcome.

By the time Erik rounded the path near the frozen rosebushes, he was ready to call it quits. His back was aching and his feet were throbbing, and he was as out of breath as a long distance runner. More than that, he was suddenly furious. Just a moment earlier he’d been strolling along thinking pleasant thoughts about playing in the snow with his baby, and then it all overcame him at once. He was cold, lonely, aching, tired, living in a house with people who hated him, all alone in the middle of a rose garden of all things in the dead of winter, fucking pregnant. He could scream. In fact, he did scream, and his shout echoed across the grounds. He thought the scream would make him feel better, but all it made him feel was helpless.

He didn’t bother completing his walk. Instead, he went to the nearest door, let himself in, dumped the coat and hat and gloves onto the floor, and stomped back to the library.

He was panting again when he opened the library door, and groaning in agony in spite of himself. Just his luck, Moira was there to witness it. She was standing on a ladder flipping through a dusty hardcover when Erik lumbered into the library and landed heavily in his favorite armchair, gasping for breath.

“Are you all right?” Moira asked as she descended the ladder.

Erik tried to catch his breath. “Fine,” he grunted, and lifted his feet up onto a nearby ottoman.

When Moira reached the bottom of the ladder she walked over to where Erik sat and watched while he finished a glass of water he’d left behind earlier.

“What?” Erik snapped at her.

“Nothing.” Moira looked around. Her eyes landed on the fireplace. “Would you like me to get a fire going?”

Erik weighed the consequences of allowing her to see his weakness versus the benefit of having a fire lit for him, and relented. “Yes, that would be nice,” he grumbled in spite of himself.

Moira said no more. She set up some firewood, checked the flue, and started the flame with a match and a bit of newspaper. Erik thanked her as she left.

A few minutes later, just as Erik was beginning to calm down, there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” Erik called.

He assumed it would be Charles, but it was Moira once again, and this time she carried a tray. “I thought you might like some hot chocolate,” she said, setting down the tray. “I also brought—”

“Pineapple!” Erik grabbed a ring with his fingers and stuffed it in his mouth all at once.

Moira smiled. “I noticed we were going through cans and cans of pineapple, so I figured it must be for you.”

Erik blushed, and when his mouth was no longer full, he confessed. “I can't stop eating it. I’m told it’s normal.”

“Very normal,” said Moira. “When my sister was pregnant she wanted sauerkraut at every meal.”

Erik considered that for a moment, then admitted, “Actually that sounds delicious.”

Moira laughed.

“Thank you,” said Erik.

“You’re welcome,” said Moira. “You can always ask me if you need anything. I know the boys are giving you a hard time, but…” She paused, and shrugged. “If I can help at all, please, let me know.”

Erik glanced up at her from his bowl of pineapple. She seemed to be telling the truth. Perhaps there were two people in this house who didn’t despise him.

“Thank you,” he said again. “Really, thank you.”

Moira nodded, smiled at him, then turned to leave the library.

“Wait,” Erik called. “Could you...?”

“Yes?”

“Could you help me get these boots off my feet?”


End file.
